Hellomat
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:55 pm
Just bought this Hellomat Quatra. Not the most exciting machine (although strangely addictive to play) but it does have a few interesting features that might be of interest to some. It dates to 1965 and was made by Erich Busch, in Hellenthal, which is a little odd as the earlier and later Hellomats were made by O.J.Hoffmann in the same town.
It has the strangest reel operation I've seen (perhaps it's common and I've just never had cause to notice). There is a central rod that rotates for the whole length of the play. The reels run freely on this rod attached to the rod only by four felt pads. When the solenoid drops in to stop each reel, the reel simply stops and the pads rub against the still spinning rod. I thought they would be badly worn but they look to have years of life in them yet.
Although the front glass is in English it's running on German 10 pfennigs and DM and the English wording says it is, which seems very odd.
It has an interesting 1 DM change giver that gives the player 1 game and nine 10 pf coins. The DM fall into a separate payout tube allowing for a jackpot paid in DM which is a nice twist. It has two coin boxes to keep the two coins separate.
The machine is in perfect working order including the payouts, change giver and JP and seems to have a high payout ratio. I don't know what the JP is as I have 400 pf coins but no DM, but I suspect 2 or more DM, as the highest normal payout is 18 coins.
No transformer of course so lots of sudden death in the case. The case is pretty good but needs a little work on the metal bits.
I seem to have a soft spot for this type of machine, although I'm not great on electrics. These are much like a '60s pinball, which is where I started with slots, and it does have the original wiring diagram still fixed to the inside of the case, so not too hard to work out.
I was intrigued by the word "Eifel" which always seems to be on the front of these machines. Simple internet research shows this to be the area in Germany where the town of Hellenthal is situated.
It has the strangest reel operation I've seen (perhaps it's common and I've just never had cause to notice). There is a central rod that rotates for the whole length of the play. The reels run freely on this rod attached to the rod only by four felt pads. When the solenoid drops in to stop each reel, the reel simply stops and the pads rub against the still spinning rod. I thought they would be badly worn but they look to have years of life in them yet.
Although the front glass is in English it's running on German 10 pfennigs and DM and the English wording says it is, which seems very odd.
It has an interesting 1 DM change giver that gives the player 1 game and nine 10 pf coins. The DM fall into a separate payout tube allowing for a jackpot paid in DM which is a nice twist. It has two coin boxes to keep the two coins separate.
The machine is in perfect working order including the payouts, change giver and JP and seems to have a high payout ratio. I don't know what the JP is as I have 400 pf coins but no DM, but I suspect 2 or more DM, as the highest normal payout is 18 coins.
No transformer of course so lots of sudden death in the case. The case is pretty good but needs a little work on the metal bits.
I seem to have a soft spot for this type of machine, although I'm not great on electrics. These are much like a '60s pinball, which is where I started with slots, and it does have the original wiring diagram still fixed to the inside of the case, so not too hard to work out.
I was intrigued by the word "Eifel" which always seems to be on the front of these machines. Simple internet research shows this to be the area in Germany where the town of Hellenthal is situated.